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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. cold — not warm
  3. hand — in cards
  4. season — of the year
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. degree — temperature
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. degree — from a university
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. hand — help
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. season — in sport
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. cold — an illness
  15. degree — an amount
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. bark — to shout

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com